Almost 20 years after the final mainline 2D Castlevania sport,the staff behind 2023’s Lifeless Cell’s Return to Castlevania DLC has been given the keys to Dracula’s Citadel for actual. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse goals to breathe contemporary life into this 40-year-old sequence with a inventive mix of previous and new concepts. With a model new Belmont wielding the household whip, acquainted foes in your manner, and fashionable conveniences which have develop into anticipated within the style, developer Evil Empire has largely hit their mark – however if you’re a longtime fan anticipating Belmont’s Curse to be a very trustworthy revival of the sequence we performed again within the early 2000s, then it would be best to assume once more. It is a completely different breed of monster you are looking, each for good and for ailing.
Belmont’s Curse picks up in Paris about 23 years after the occasions of the NES/Famicom basic Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (the sport Netflix’s authentic Castlevania sequence was based mostly on). This time, the Belmont answerable for meting out ache to the varied creatures of the evening – together with huge, unhealthy Dracula himself – is Rose Belmont, the daughter of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades. Trevor leaves Rose on her personal to unravel what’s going on in Paris, and the story that follows over the following 10-15 hours is one which boils right down to what followers of Konami’s 40-year-old sequence would anticipate: Dracula comes again, and you have to kill him.
Belmont’s Curse does sprinkle some nifty twists into the cauldron right here and there, a lot of which revolve round that titular “curse” and the mysterious set of Tarot playing cards Sypha left to her daughter earlier than her off-screen dying in childbirth. It’s a enjoyable story total, and I cherished the nods and winks for devoted followers like me to catch, however I’d be mendacity if I mentioned plot was ever the rationale I fell in love with these video games.
Within the line of Belmont heroes, I’d rank Rose pretty excessive. Whereas definitely strong-willed and centered as she units out to show herself worthy of her household’s legacy, you too can see she continues to be a bit tough across the edges. She will be impulsive at instances, however learns from her errors – and whereas her powerful facade often cracks to disclose a extra susceptible facet, Rose by no means comes off as a damsel in want of saving. She’d be the one busting down doorways to save lots of you. She carries the spirit of Sonia Belmont on her shoulders nicely.
Very like the opposite heroes of those video games, a small solid of helpers joins her within the quest to place “Him” again in his pine field (severely, this sport actually likes to lean into characters simply referring to Dracula as “Him”, capital H and all). Nevertheless, in contrast to in earlier video games, most of those interactions occur completely inside Rose’s head with the souls of bosses she has vanquished, who now discover themselves sealed away in her Tarot playing cards. There are some enjoyable moments of bickering between the primary three – The Fallen, Joan of Arc, and Medusa – however I want that the opposite bosses would extra often chime in.
I additionally discovered myself lacking precise individuals to run into. Scenes like Alucard first encountering Maria in Symphony of the Night time gave a sense of life to the citadel and its surrounding lands filled with dying. By comparability, the psychological arguments with Medusa are amusing, however simply don’t land in the identical manner. Contemplating you begin out in Paris (admittedly, a violently burning one), it feels a bit odd that there isn’t a single store open or individual left to speak to. It might have been nice to randomly discover Grant from Trevor and Sypha’s crew from Castlevania III someplace.
The map itself is split into massive, self-contained zones, extra akin to Tremendous Metroid than Symphony of the Night time, with a boss sometimes overseeing every space. These bigger zones are then related to 1 one other by means of the odd bridge or pathway, with particular ferryman doorways that you’ll ultimately uncover to permit for fast hopping between areas, together with the varied elements of Dracula’s citadel (and different even stranger locations). As somebody who tends to get misplaced or neglect issues in these types of video games, Belmont’s Curse adopts some fashionable conveniences which might be very welcome, together with share trackers for every space and numerous markers that may be positioned on the map. I used these instruments liberally and regularly to assist preserve observe of blocked paths I nonetheless wanted a motion improve to get by means of or collectibles I may see however not attain.
One other particularly helpful function (one you’re by no means clearly informed about, for some motive) is that you’re additionally capable of quick journey between the save rooms inside a given area, carried out so by holding down and crouching Rose simply in entrance of the mirror for a number of seconds. This can take you to a small hub of types the place you possibly can select one other mirror to come out of. For a sport that has simply as a lot backtracking and exploration as this style is thought for, it’s an incredible assist. Too unhealthy it takes about 15 seconds from while you first crouch till you regain management of Rose within the Hub (at the least on PS5). Helpful because it was, that load time obtained previous actual fast.
For essentially the most half, every Castlevania sport has some type of distinctive system or mechanic that helps differentiate it. The Aria video games, as an example had monster soul assortment, whereas Circle of the Moon had its mix-and-match playing cards. For Belmont’s Curse, it’s largely constructed round a magical whip means and a protecting protect of sunshine – and to a lesser extent, the beforehand talked about Tarot playing cards, which grant Rose different magic spells that may be improved (she is Sypha’s daughter in spite of everything).
The whip lets Rose swing from numerous objects or pull herself in the direction of them. It can be used on enemies, permitting her to not solely shortly shut the gap, however, when timed together with her assault, ship stronger hits. Zipping from enemy to enemy or nimbly swinging out of the best way of a charging minotaur felt (and regarded) so badass, no matter what number of instances I did it. There are additionally some fairly difficult rooms that require precision to keep away from spikes and different hazards in an effort to attain a reward on the finish, so platforming followers have one thing to sit up for as nicely.
The sunshine protect, however, is a much more defensive software. When completely timed, it permits Rose to parry and mirror some injury again on the enemy hitting her, and likewise grants her the flexibility to cross by means of sure partitions and flooring. It’s a cool impact, however given how briskly fight normally goes and what number of enemies are round, Belmont’s Curse feels extra tailor-made to conserving you on the offensive. A degree additional incentivized by the truth that the primary manner you restore your magic pool, letting you solid extra spells, is by hitting enemies.
That mentioned, Evil Empire has included a number of adjustable settings, such because the injury you dish out, how a lot expertise you earn, and even the choice to keep away from dying altogether should you’d slightly simply benefit from the story. I opted to maintain issues principally as they’re by default with solely a single exception, and it’s one I’d suggest everybody make: you’ll be able to test a field that permits you to respawn simply outdoors a boss room door should you die as an alternative of again at a save level. To be honest, there did appear to all the time be a save room comparatively near the boss doorways, so it doesn’t take too lengthy to get again to the battle both manner. However I a lot most popular having the ability to beat my head towards a wall quite a bit actually shortly till it breaks, versus considering of higher methods to take it down between concussions. And hey, whether or not you like or hate boss runbacks, giving you the selection to take away them or not is a good little bit of flexibility to have.
No matter your settings, one can find many basic Castlevania enemies alongside the best way, all sporting a slightly gorgeous and imposing refresh of their designs. Axe Knights tower over the comparatively minute Rose whereas flying possessed swords spin and shoot out smaller blades to skewer you. The bosses additionally look nice – Dracula’s right-hand man, Loss of life, sports activities maybe my favourite of his designs in all the sequence and what could be the good scythe I’ve ever seen. However regardless of their sick new seems to be, there’s a surprisingly low number of enemies total, with some unlucky notable omissions. Fan favorites like Legion, the huge ball of corpses, and even iconic monsters just like the wall-mounted skeleton dragon head are MIA, with Belmont’s Curse relying extra on palette swaps of creatures for the stronger foes you face in later areas. There are nonetheless a stable variety of completely different monsters, however in comparison with the bestiaries in different Castlevanias (even the GBA video games), this one is just a little disappointing.
Fortunately, what I didn’t discover fairly as disappointing was truly killing these monsters. Almost all of Rose’s preventing choices really feel good to make use of, with seven distinctive weapon varieties to select from: sword, sword and protect, spear, fists, nice sword, twin swords, and, in fact, the household’s signature whips. Every kind is available in 4 tiers of power, that are present in hidden chests or as rewards for beating the occasional boss. Up till I earned the magical Vampire Killer whip, which blew the opposite choices I had out of the water on the time, I discovered myself particularly drawn to the fist weapons. It was numerous enjoyable to tug myself to an enemy after which uppercut that foe into the air, pummeling them with quick and fierce punches that every do barely extra injury than the final.
Nevertheless, whereas all the fight choices had been cool, the extra I performed of Belmont’s Curse, the much less it felt like what I affiliate with the Castlevania sequence particularly. The large pillars are right here: you might have the citadel, you might have Dracula and his iconic minions, you can be backtracking with new talents to entry new areas. However a lot else of what normally units this sequence aside inside this style has been smoothed over with Belmont’s Curse, which leaves the entire package deal feeling a bit like a very stable metroidvania carrying a superficial Castlevania pores and skin. Take Rose, for instance: chaining punches into air combos is numerous enjoyable, nevertheless it doesn’t actually really feel like I’m taking part in as a Belmont. Gone completely are subweapons just like the spinning bibles, hurled bottles of holy water, or arcing axes. There isn’t even a dagger to throw, which simply feels sort of fallacious. She doesn’t even begin the sport with a whip.
In an analogous vein, Belmont’s Curse pulls from the soulslike playbook and provides you therapeutic vials that recharge while you go to save factors (which additionally respawn enemies close by), eradicating potions to spam. Hearts from lanterns have been changed by sterile blue globs of mana, and now there are coronary heart piece-like collectibles that broaden your well being and magic bars while you accumulate 4. A majority of the RPG programs have been pulled out, eradicating a lot of the stats, and gear is now relegated to only three slots so that you can put relics into – these have helpful however not essentially thrilling particular results, like decreasing Rose’s most well being in change for dealing elevated injury. Heck, with all of the load instances I bumped into, it will be good in the event that they at the least had Rose strolling by means of a hallway or one thing as a throwback to Symphony of the Night time as an alternative of a static mural. (To its credit score, that mural does look superior, however you possibly can solely stare on the identical image so many instances.)
Revisiting the lands of Castlevania in Belmont’s Curse opened my eyes to how a lot this style has developed within the 18 years since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on the Nintendo DS – highlighted much more because of the great collections which were launched up to now few years. We haven’t been missing in alternative in the case of superior motion platformers like this whereas the sequence slept, both, and I’d put Rose’s debut as one other nice choice in that surprisingly lengthy checklist. However whereas I’ve had a enjoyable time with Belmont’s Curse, it additionally hasn’t fairly scratched that Castlevania itch in the best way I hoped it will.
